Jubilee Fund
The Idea
The pilot 2021 Jubilee Fund donated money to eliminate credit card debt and then used the same money to support direct aid efforts. This was our effort to keep our money in the community, instead of transnational credit card companies. We wanted to slow down rising income inequality and create a sense of wholeness for everyone involved.
Our hope is that a larger institution is inspired by the idea and implements it at scale.
The Story
In 2020, Douglas Tsoi, founder of the Jubilee Fund, paid off a friend and his wife’s $22,000 credit card debt. They agreed to pay him back at zero interest, $400 a month for five years. Douglas began donating the $400 each month to reparations. In essence, he created a double-sided charity: his money first eliminated 22% credit card debt and then the money was returned over 5 years at 0% and then donated again, this time to reparations.
The 2021 Jubilee Fund
In 2021 we tried to do a larger version of this story, turning debt into donations, debtors into donors.
“Funders” are people who have the means and desire to contribute to direct aid. Twelve Funders pooled $105,000. With the money, we created the Jubilee Fund.
“Donors” are the people whose credit card debts are eliminated. Instead of paying a credit card company 20%-28% interest, they instead donate monthly to reparation groups for 5 years at 0% interest.
Funders reached out in their circles, asking if anyone with credit card debt would like to have it immediately paid off. In return, those people agreed to become “Donors,” signing an Agreement to pay the amount of their debt, principal only, over 5 years, to what we called “local reparations+” efforts.
We found nine Donors. and immediately eliminated $105,000 of their credit card debt. That $105,000 would have been around $25,000 of income for large transnational debt corporations in interest payments per year. Instead, that $25,000 per year now stayed in Donor’s pockets, to spent or saved within our local community. Put another way, the Funders’ “investment” has a $25,000 “annual community return.”
On top of that, over the following five years, Donors would collectively repay that $105,000 ($21,000 per year) to local direct-aid funds to repair our local community.
Goals for 2021 Pilot Jubilee Fund
The goals of the pilot are:
To eliminate debt of community members—a “debt jubilee.”
To keep money in the community instead of giving community resources to transnational credit card companies.
To double the benefit of a donation and prove a “third way” with money. First eliminate the debt of a community member, then pass that same money on to an organization providing reparations, direct aid, and/or direct services. This was neither traditional “investment” nor “donation” but a financial transaction loop to create a sense of wholeness and sufficiency for donor, debtor, and community.
To inspire people to participate in a “grace-filled economy” where money flows towards the places it is most needed.
The larger game was to show the viability of Jubilee Funds for wealthier people and foundations, or even churches, companies, and other communities.
Jubilee Fund Guiding Principles and Values
Giving: The Jubilee Fund celebrates the opportunity to give. The funders give to donors, the donors give to direct aid groups, and those organizations give to the community. This chain of giving strengthens our individual relationships as well as the bonds of our community by working together for the common good.
Community Building: The Jubilee Fund strengthens bonds between funders and donors by reducing economic disparity, and making them partners in the project of direct aid reparations. Direct aid reduces the inequities and divisions that obstruct empathy and community. We want to lessen the sense of separateness between people and create a sense of wholeness and sufficiency for everyone involved.
Equity: Our society’s economic systems and policies often create and sustain financial inequality. We believe opportunities, wealth, and dignity should be available to everyone. In today's world, this means that those with power and money need to give up power and money and give to those who without. In a community, resources should flow like water does, to the places that need it most.
Trust: The Jubilee Fund relies on mutual trust among all Jubilee members and our communities in order to move towards collective liberation.
There is an expectation to pay back the Fund. There is no enforcement mechanism. No one going to be sued for nonpayment. The Jubilee Fund is about trusting people and being trustworthy, assuming best intentions for the well being of all, and withholding judgment when things don’t go as planned. It is believing that our actions and our results, whatever the results, are mutual blessing.
To decrease the power imbalance between donors and funders, donors are able to choose which organization they give their money to. Funders offered a list of direct aid groups, and donors added other organizations they thought fit the Jubilee Fund mission and guiding principles.
Guiding Principles for Donations:
Reparations: Reparations are about repairing—acknowledging past harms, making amends, and building community. That means funds need to go to people who have systems not serving/representing them or working against them. Our reparations should look through a lens of race and class. We also recognize that there are racial inequities in how wealth has been accumulated and passed down generationally in this country, and we intend for the Jubilee Fund to play a part in addressing these disparities.
Direct Assistance: We recognize the power that money has in our society, and we want to deeply consider historical context in regards to the organizations we are paying reparations/donating to. We are looking for organizations who give direct assistance (hard cash, or otherwise) to historically excluded or marginalized populations. By giving direct assistance, we hope that the money goes to those who most need it. We will provide a list of organizations we know of in Portland that are doing this work. That being said, donors may choose a different organization that matches the values of the Jubilee Fund.
Community-based: The Jubilee Fund is focused on building, repairing, and sustaining community. The organizers of the Jubilee Fund are mainly based in the Portland Metro area, and that’s reflected in our recommended list of organizations. Because of the focus on community building, we encourage donors from other areas to select organizations in their own communities, so long as those organizations fit the Jubilee Fund’s values.
Representative: Organizations should be led by people who are most directly affected by the problems that the organization or project is addressing (for example, if the organization serves incarcerated trans people, then the organization’s leadership needs to be made up of trans people who are currently or have previously been incarcerated).
Outcomes
The biggest test is whether Donors will be able to repay the full amount of their jubilee. Our idea is that trust in community replaces the interest payment sent to the credit card company. The wealth of the community is the “bond.” So far, we have no defaults.
Once the Fund runs its course (60 months total), the anticipated total donations per organization should come to:
Taking Ownership PDX: $32,823.60
Fires Igniting the Spirit: $22,653.60
Black Oregon Land Trust: $25,514.40
Portland Freedom Fund: $1,290
Holla: $8,425
Mother Africa: $4,212.40
Immigrant Mutual Aid Coalition: $7,287
We anticipate some loss, from Donors late, or unable to contribute, direct aid.
Feedback from our Donors
“The positives are hard to parse, in part because talking about it feels like it reduces them. The positives—gratitude, humility, a sense of relief, a sense of responsibility, a renewed desire to pay the grace forward, and, of course, all the practical benefits of being free from predatory interest rates. All of these positives create something emergent, something larger than the sum of the parts. Maybe we could call it hope in the power of people to prioritize communal bonds as the truest wealth.”
“I feel grateful and inspired that my money is supporting reparations, and amazed that my debt is gone. It doesn't feel like debt now, and the lack of high interest feels very empowering.”
“I've always wanted to make financial contributions to organizations that support reparations. This program has allowed me to do this, with a huge benefit of helping me alleviate interest penalties on my credit card. The psychological benefit is real: I'm paying into something I believe in as opposed to paying into giant predatory banks and their greed.”
“I can save some money monthly now, and with my improved credit rating was able to get an additional loan for grad school in case I don't find a job that works with my school schedule.”
“A huge relief. It will allow us to actually start to save money ourselves for future major life events (buying a home/property).”
“It felt like a weight being lifted, like moving forward from being mostly-stuck in a pit of tar into the ocean or a beach with gently lapping waves. There's still debt to be paid off, but it's no longer a sinking ship - AND, it's helping people in the process. Win-win!”
“Surreal, giddy laughter, deep gratitude, a feeling of Rightness”
“Surreal. Jubilee is an apt word for the experience. One minute you think you're looking at years of digging out from under a mountain, the next someone is lifting you up. You're not just being freed from compounding debt, you're being gifted with years—life that has a totally different quality and tone to it.”
“There is a reason why so many people say that debt is "crushing." After paying off the debt I feel physically and emotionally lighter...standing a little taller, and the worry I was feeling has transformed into a sense of hope about the future.”
“This is really cool! I hope from offering this pilot version you can learn how to create a template that can be wide-spread. The world (our country, in particular...) needs systems like this.”
“It's a powerful, sort of alchemical combination of ennobling and humbling. It's one thing, for example, to give someone a humbling gift, to lift them out of a hole. It's another thing to have that same gift lift the person's head and empower them to take on a greater vision for helping others. The donations are a monthly reminder of the sustenance that can be had in seeking justice. They are logs on a growing fire of desire for society to be more equitable, social, and humane.”